Beckham is So Damn Selfish

David Beckham finally did it. After 4 years of selfish play, I am finally going to call him out for being a self-serving fraud who doesn't give a damn about his Galaxy teammates or MLS, the league he came to help grow the sport in America.

To say that Beckham's 4+ years in MLS a disappointment is an obvious understatement. Let's go through his brief MLS history:

• It started on day 1 when ESPN threw all sorts of resources into his MLS debut (against Chelsea in a friendly) and he was barely able to get 10 minutes in due to an injury.
  
• The following year, Beckham requested to be loaned to a European based team during the Galaxy's off-season in order to stay fit and keep himself in the eye of England's skipper Fabio Capello. He was loaned to AC Milan until the end of March so that he could be back in LA for training camp, but in the end, he stayed in Milan until July.
  
• Around this time, the Beckham Experiment was published and it was clear that he did not have very many friends in the Galaxy locker room.
  
• Following the 2009 season he went to Milan again and tore his Achilles tendon, effectively ending his World Cup aspirations and keeping him out of the Galaxy line-up until September 2010.
  
• Finally in 2011, his last season in MLS, he finally started to be the player we had hoped for in 2007.

I truly believe that Beckham had good, if not self-centered, intentions when he signed with the Galaxy. I do believe that he cares about promoting the sport throughout the world. I believe that he saw an opportunity not only to grow the sport in America, but to also get rich as a result. I believe that Posh wanted to come to LA so she could break into the entertainment industry. I believe that at one time he felt his career was coming to an end and this was a new challenge for him. Then something happened...somewhere along the way, he became interested in becoming the 3rd English player (I think that's right-I didn't look it up) to have 100 caps for the national team. Once that happened, he then became obsessed with making the 2010 World Cup squad. Maybe it was to make up for past failures. Maybe it was because he knew he could actually contribute to the soon to be underachieving team. Maybe he is just an egomaniac. I don't know what it is, but playing for England became the #1 goal in his life and instead of standing up to Beckham, MLS caved. It set the precedent that when it came to David, they would not interfere.

A week ago I thought I saw something with the Galaxy that has been missing for quite some time: team unity. When Juan Pablo Angel scored his first goal of the season, the entire team was stoked. They celebrated with each other like they actually liked each other - I was duped into thinking that it was because they actually did like each other.

When news came that Beckham would fly back to England to attend the Royal Wedding on a Friday before a Sunday game against Dallas, I was unfazed. Honestly, all it meant was that he would miss a practice (Landon Donovan once did that to attend the ESPY's) and really, it's not like he was traveling coach or anything. He could make it to and from England with little ease. Then last week, the big news dropped. Beckham would be missing a MLS regular season GAME to attend best friend Gary Neville's testimonial game with Man Utd. For those not aware, another peculiar (at least to America standards) aspect of world soccer is the testimonial game, which is a game put on by a club to honor a member of their team (in this case, Neville, who has been at United since 1992). It is meant to be a friendly and in the case of Neville's game, a fund raiser.

So Beckham, who is getting paid handsomely by the LA Galaxy decided to skip his team's midweek game to play in a charity game? Are you effing kidding me? That is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the notion that LA Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena was behind the idea, saying
"that decision has been made. It’s my responsibility so if you want to throw darts, the darts should be thrown at me. I’m the person that has to accept the responsibility with that decision and I think it’s the right one to make." He then indicated that Beckham was going to sit Beckham for the game regardless of his plans to fly to England in order to rest his thigh injury.

So let me get this straight...I am to believe that Beckham was going to sit on Wednesday to rest an injury? Fine, no problem, it happens all the time. But wait, he was supposed to fly to England during the week to be with a best friend. Ok, I can accept that. Wait, what's that? You say he ended up not only playing, but playing the full 90? What??? I thought he was injured. Just ridiculous.

It's just another instance of Beckham putting himself over the team. I don't care how the English press would have reacted had he not shown up. That is not mine nor MLS' problem. He is getting paid by this team and now not only is missing practices, but is missing games for a freaking charity event in England? Going on loan and missing have the season because you are playing for another team is one thing - it happens all the time in international soccer - but missing because of a charity game is unacceptable. Oh, and don't think David is a dummy...he knows that Fabio Capello is not watching him in MLS. He knows that playing in England, even in a testimonial, will give him the exposure he wants. Don't think for a second that that had not crossed his mind - he is still not giving up on the English National Team. He would leave in a split second if he got the call.

If he does get a call sometime from Capello, you better believe he is going to drop everything and fly wherever he is needed. MLS has made it painfully obvious that he can do whatever he wants and it just makes the league look worse every time it happens. I understand that Bruce Arena was trying to douse the situation. I think he knows that he has a great opportunity in front of him. This LA team is stacked and finally playing with some purpose and passion. The last thing he needs is some sort of distraction. So naturally, he shoulders the blame and makes it look like he has no problem with it - that Beckham wasn't going to play anyways. That's all fine. He can do what he wants, but the fact that Beckham played a full 90 is a TOTAL slap in Arena's face. Arena is smart enough to know that Beckham can single-handedly ruin the season for them. He tried to protect himself and his team and Beckham turns around and pulls this stunt? I would love to rip on Sir Alex for leaving him in, but at the end of the day, he shouldn't really be concerned with what Beckham's club coach thinks. He has his own problems like the Ryan Giggs scandal that he needs to worry about before this Saturday's Champions League final...if anything, Beckham and the Galaxy should have worked out an agreement for him to play a half. Instead of getting a quick run in, he played the whole game on an 'injury thigh" and now not only has put his health at risk, but is potentially alienating himself from his teammates again.

The whole things just stinks. He is completely self-centered and I can't wait for him to leave at the end of the year. We don't need players like him. Instead, we need to be signing young players with high ceilings who want to be here. We don't need egotistical maniacs like David Beckham.